REVIEWS

“Yet again, Ludwig with Barbara Hannigan is fantastic”
“The inspiring success story of Ludwig and Barbara Hannigan continues. It has even gained momentum and impact.”

“They delivered the most beautiful and moving Stravinsky’s The Rake Progress I have ever heard.”

“After Munich and Paris, Amsterdam was the third European city that Ludwig and Hannigan visited with the opera. The tour ends on Wednesday in the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. There, too, the public will not know afterwards how loudly they should cheer and shout. This orchestra and this conductor are solid gold for the promotion of classical music.”

“All of the singers made their debut in the Grote Zaal. All came from Hannigan’s mentoring program Equilibrium, in which young singers are closely coached. And since Hannigan has often sung the role of Anne Trulove herself, she knows The Rake’s Progress inside and out and her advice might strike a chord that others may not find.”

“The role of Anne Trulove was sung last night by Swedish-Finnish soprano Sofie Asplund, with a beautiful clear voice and perfect innocence. The arias “No word from Tom” and “How strange”: deeply moving. Hungarian tenor Gyula Rab was also very good as Tom Rakewell, and as the evening progressed he grew more and more in his role.”

“Also fantastic: the American bass-baritone Douglas Williams as Nick Shadow and the Swedish bass Erik Rosenius, who as father Trulove and as Keeper of the Madhouse possessed an unbelievably resonant-rich sound. Just as good were the British tenor James Way as Sellem and the Polish mezzo Marta Swiderska as Baba the Turk.”

“Under the guidance of Hannigan, Ludwig played razor sharp and certainly not without risk. This caused many miraculous sounds, with the dissonance of cello and viola in the graveyard scene as one of the highlights. The minimalist staging of Linus Fellbom was also very successful. If you bring The Rake like this, you no longer need opera houses.”

De Volkskrant
Frits van der Waa, 27 May 2019
4 out of 5 stars

“Hannigan led the LUDWIG Orchestra through the score, giving flexibility and charm to the boisterous and harmonic aspects.”

“What a pleasure to hear tenor Gyula Rab in The Rake’s Progress”

“Douglas Williams is a powerful and sinister Shadow, Sofie Asplund, the faithful lover Anne Trulove has a ranke, but pregnant and expressive soprano voice.”

“Enjoyable are the contributions of Marta Swiderska as the bearded woman, James Way as the auctioneer and not to be forgotten, Cappella Amsterdam that populate this opera with prostitutes, townspeople and lunatics. ”

Trouw
Frederike Berntsen, 24 May 2019

“Particularly successful: the “Rake” cast, which consists of singers from the mentoring program Equilibrium set up by Hannigan. The agenda of the Canadian is packed and passing on professional knowledge in a lesson situation is a challenge. To overcome that, she founded the Equilibrium program for musicians, mainly singers, who are at the start of their career. The idea behind it: they learn by doing. The young talents work with her on stage.”

“The production The Rake’s Progress falls in the first season of Equilibrium. Hannigan knows exactly who she wants next to her: the group of six brought a spot-on performance, as did Cappella. And who claims that a complete staging is necessary to bring an opera to life? Polished singers, a top hat, a fan and a casual costume transformed the stage into a storybook.”

“A natural acting talent is essential for this. In addition to a young, healthy sound, all of the singers have that. Tom Rakewell was sung by tenor Gyula Rab: voice and performance match, both are smooth and fluid. The thoughtful arias of soprano Sofie Asplund (as Anne) were always received with applause. And bass-baritone Douglas Williams played the role of the devil Nick Shadow powerfully and sonorously.”

“Gyula Rab made a beaming, likeable Tom Rakewell, his tenor light and flexible”
“Douglas Williams’ charcoal bass-baritone made for a suave Nick Shadow, playing the naive Tom like a violin.”
“Swedish soprano Sofie Asplund made for a fine Anne Trulove with a ringing top”

“Rake needs plenty of neoclassical punch and crispness and Hannigan and Ludwig delivered. Given Stravinsky’s small ensemble, there was still plenty of weight to the sound, Cyrus Allyar’s pearly trumpet in the second scene of Act 2 an example of the excellent solo playing.”